PolarfatePhase 4 of 8
Refining · Patience · Almost there
Moon phase
Waxing gibbous moon
Between the first quarter and the full moon, the Moon is gibbous: more than half lit and swelling toward full. It's up in the afternoon and shines for most of the evening, a little brighter each night.
In the sky
Gibbous comes from the Latin for humped. Each day the Moon moves about 13 degrees along its orbit and rises roughly 50 minutes later, so the lit part grows and the Moon spends more of the night above the horizon.
A waxing gibbous moon is bright enough to wash out fainter stars, but it's still a good phase for spotting craters along the shadow line on its darker edge. Almanacs give the Moon's age in days since the new moon; a waxing gibbous moon is about eight to fourteen days old.
In tradition
In modern astrology this is the phase of fine-tuning. Most of the work is done; what's left is adjusting, practicing and letting things come together. It's usually described as a time for patience rather than new starts.
The astrologer Dane Rudhyar, who described eight lunar phases in the twentieth century, saw it as a time of analysis: asking what an effort is for before it reaches its peak.
Before street lighting, a bright evening moon mattered in a practical way. The eighteenth-century Lunar Society of Birmingham met each month near the full moon so its members could ride home by its light.
Things to notice
- Notice what's nearly ready and what it still needs.
- Notice the urge to start over, and what reviewing would look like instead.
- Notice what you care about that could use a little more time.
A question to sit with
What would change if you trusted that something is coming along, even though it isn't finished?
For entertainment and reflection.